George Waterston

George Waterston OBE FRSE FZS LLD (10 April 1911 – 30 September 1980) was a 20th-century Scottish stationer, ornithologist and conservationist.

[3] His father was director of George Waterson & Sons, a long-established family firm of Edinburgh printers and stationers.

This position afforded him both wealth and free time to pursue his main hobby of ornithology.

The Midlothian Ornithologists' Club were keen to maintain ornithological work on the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth and a migratory study centre was established.

[6][7][8] Waterston was the only serving British officer to contribute a paper to a German scientific journal in wartime.

Waterston joined James Fisher on the Agricultural Research Council's Rook Survey before rejoining the family business.

In 1955, Waterston was appointed half-time salaried secretary to the Scottish Ornithologists' Club but he had a vision for an ornithological centre.

His energies had so broadened the field of bird protection in Scotland that a full-time RSPB Director was required – a post he held for 13 years.

He organised a large team of observers who mounted a round-the-clock guard and placed barbed wire around the base of the nesting site.

[10] In the mid-sixties, his attention turned to Greenland and the Canadian Arctic where he joined several scientific expeditions.